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Spiced vegetables and chickpeas with basil and coriander

I’m not sure whether to call this a stew or a salad, I guess it could be either depending on whether you’ll be eating it hot or cold. I’ll be having it cold for lunch at work, so salad it is! It’s lightly spiced so you can still taste the individual flavours of the vegetables, and the whole thing is given a boost by the fresh basil and coriander.

It’s simple, but super tasty!

Spiced vegetables and chickpeas with basil and coriander

serves 2

200 g potatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 a large red pepper, diced

1 courgette, diced

2 sticks celery, sliced

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp coriander seed

1/4 tsp asafoetida

5 cm piece of ginger, grated

200 ml of the potato cooking water

1 400 g tin of chickpeas, drained

a pinch of sugar

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

salt

4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (I’m still using the purple variety)

Put the potatoes in a saucepan with about 500 ml of water and a little salt. Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 5 minutes until just starting to soften. Drain, reserving the water and leave to dry out a little.

While the potatoes are cooking, toast the fennel and coriander seed in a saute pan and then grind.

Heat the oil in the saute pan and add the potatoes, red pepper, courgette and celery. Fry on a medium heat for around 15 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are caramelised in places.

Lower the heat and add the fennel and coriander seed, asafoetida and ginger and cook for 1 – 2 minutes stirring all the time so the spices don’t catch.

Add the potato water, the sugar, and the chickpeas and give everything a good mix together.

Cover the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes until the chickpeas are softened. Stir through the nutritional yeast and smush some of the chickpeas into the sauce to thicken it.